TDOT planning traffic app, governor says

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is putting together an app for Android and Apple phones that would give real-time traffic information, Gov. Bill Haslam said at a tech conference Tuesday.

Haslam and an aide said TDOT hopes to release an app by the fall that would pull data from the department’s network of traffic cameras. Haslam told information technology specialists at the Digital Government Summit in Nashville that the department currently has all the data on hand (traffic info is already fed into the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency’s Ready TN disaster-preparedness app), but the trick is getting it to drivers immediately.

“If you’re the governor and you’re riding around with state troopers and you’re wondering how does I-40 look or what’s the best route home today — I can get all that information real easily,” he said. “We want to make that so that everybody can.

“It might mess up some of my fast ways home, but I’m willing to take that chance.”

The app would be released free of charge. Haslam said he did not know how much it will cost TDOT to develop.